Peace Brigades International

PBI Kenya Project field volunteer recruitment

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:35:00 +0000

PBI field volunteers provide protective accompaniment to human rights defenders. This is carried out through physical presence, dialogue with authorities, advocacy with the international community and information distribution.

The first PBI team started work in Kenya in January 2013. For this reason the Project is still in a start up phase so only candidates with extensive experience with PBI or of human rights in Kenya or the region will be considered.

Criteria

Understanding of PBI's principles and mandate
Experience of consensus decision making
Facilitation and organisational skills
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Fluency in spoken and written English
Strong analytical skills
Training experience or Kiswahali skils an advantage

PBI will provide the following:

Preparation and pre-deployment training during which the final selection of volunteers will be made. This training will take place in May.
Return travel to Kenya
Health insurance
Modest monthly stipend and work related expenses
Accommodation
Modest repatriation at the end of volunteer service

Deadline for applications: 21 April

Interested candidates are requested to send their CV, brief personal statement and two reference letters to Anika Becher kenyacoordinator@peacebrigades.org

Full details and job description

For a PBI report on Kenya

International Human Rights Day: PBI stands in solidarity with defenders worldwide

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:40:00 +0000

On International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2012, PBI reaffirms its solidarity with human rights defenders around the world, and its commitment to the promotion of human rights and the protection of those who struggle in the face of threats to nonviolently uphold the rights of their communities.

The courage, strength, perseverance and resilience of these brave men and women continues to humble and inspire all of us at PBI.

Please help us to continue protecting human rights defenders by making a donation today.

Every donation matters: $7/£5/€5 a month covers regular phone calls to check on a defender's safety and wellbeing. $15/£10/€12 a month enables weekly visits to provide moral and practical support to a defender at their place of work.

Sadly, the need for this work remains as pressing as ever.

Standing in solidarity with women human rights defenders worldwide

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:44:00 +0000

On the occasion of November 29th, Women Human Rights Defenders Day, the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition stands in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of women activists around the world who – with exemplary courage, determination, and strength, uphold women’s human rights, the rights of communities, and of the environment.

View the full WHRD IC statement

PBI is a member of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, a resource and advocacy network for the protection and support of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) worldwide.

PBI celebrates World Women's day with new publication

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Mexico City, 8th March 2012 – To commemorate International Women's Day, Peace Brigades International (PBI) is launching Dignas. This publication highlights the leading role played by Mexican women in social movements promoting human rights in recent decades. It also raises awareness of the current situation and the challenges facing these social activists to carry out their work: the serious threats made against them and members of their families, sexual violence, smear campaigns, and obstacles in their access to justice, amongst others.

Through interviews conducted in November 2011 in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Mexico City, PBI presents the work of 19 women, some of whom have worked for more than 30 years defending and promoting human rights, and describes some of their most difficult experiences. In their own words, they bear witness to the human rights violations they have observed and documented in at least 9 different states of the Mexican republic. They also explain how speaking out against these abuses has made them the target of threats, harassment and attacks.

The 18 interviews and the speech made by Bety Cariño, the Oaxacan human rights defender who died in April 2010, reflect the diversity of work carried out by Mexican women human rights defenders. This includes the defence of women's rights and those of indigenous and rural communities, the struggle for freedom of expression and access to justice, the search for the disappeared by their families, in historic and in recent cases, the security needs of citizens, the defence of environmental rights, activism in favour of sexual diversity, the situation faced by people imprisoned for political reasons, for labour rights of workers, as well as cases of torture and arbitrary detention.

The publication mainly focuses on the work of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Mexico City, the Mexican states where PBI has been implementing international accompaniment. However, women defenders from Coahuila, Chihuahua, Tijuana, Puebla and Mexico State also feature and cases of human rights violations which happened in
Chiapas, Veracruz and Tamaulipas are mentioned.

"Dignas" (in English): http://issuu.com/peacebrigadesinternational/docs/dignas_eng_online

"Dignas" (in Spanish): http://issuu.com/peacebrigadesinternational/docs/dignas_online_esp

For further information, please visit www.pbi-mexico.org or follow us on Facebook: Peace Brigades International - Mexico Project

New Global Report highlights challenges faced by Women Human Rights Defenders

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:13:00 +0000

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) has launched a Global Report on the Situation of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) to advance the recognition of WHRDs, the violence and human rights violations they face, and the contexts that enable these violations.

The Global Report provides a contextual analysis of the environment in which WHRDs work and the violations they face because of their gender and/or work defending women's rights and sexual rights. It places WHRDs' analysis of their own experience at the heart of the inquiry, drawing upon 43 case studies that illuminate specific trends and experiences of WHRDs.

Coming at a time when WHRDs have received little attention in the human rights arena, the Global Report on the Situation of WHRDs will play a crucial role in advancing recognition of WHRDs.

The report is available to download from the website: http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/

PBI is a member of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC), a resource and advocacy network for the protection and support of women human rights defenders worldwide.

Death threat at gunpoint against member of CREDHOS

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:44:00 +0000

PBI expresses its profound concern regarding the threat received by Abelardo Sánchez Serrano, member of the board of directors of the Regional Corporation for Human Rights Defence (CREDHOS), on 13 January 2012 in Barrancabermeja. As reported to the Attorney General’s office, two men on a high-speed motorcycle intimidated, reproached and threatened Abelardo Sánchez with a gun, telling him that he should “stop denigrating the armed forces, we already have a son of a bitch guerrilla from Credhos in jail and if it’s necessary to take care of the rest, well we’ll do so to shut them up; and before leaving, they said that he had seventy-two hours to leave the city.”

CREDHOS was formed in the city of Barrancabermeja and focuses its work on training and education about human rights and International Humanitarian Law, and on collecting formal complaints regarding human rights abuses and crimes against humanity committed by presumed paramilitaries and members of the Armed Forces, particularly cases of extrajudicial executions, in the region. PBI has accompanied CREDHOS since arriving in Colombia in 1994.

Given this situation of grave risk, PBI asks the International Community to urge the Colombia State:

To investigate the threat in order to sanction those responsible and to guarantee that the events are not repeated;
To implement protection measures, agreed upon with CREDHOS, to protect the lives of Abelardo Sánchez and the other members of CREDHOS;
That President Juan Manuel Santos publicly supports the human rights, victims’ and lawyers’ organizations that seek truth, justice and reparation, particularly those that work on cases against State agents;
That high-ranking government officials, particularly the President, express public support for commemorative acts or other initiatives by victims’ or social organizations related to emblematic cases of human rights abuses, with the purpose of publicly supporting the search for truth and reparation for victims.

Similarly, PBI requests that the International Community:

Publicly condemns any threat or act of aggression against human rights defenders or victims reclaiming their rights;
Demonstrates public support for the work of CREDHOS;
Highlights its support of CREDHOS through visits to its headquarters in Barrancabermeja;
Accompanies the victims and human rights organizations in commemorative acts of emblematic cases, like that of the La Rochela massacre.

>> Download the full action alert from PBi Colombia

Stars add magic at PBI UK's 30th Anniversary Gala

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

On 21 November, the grand Middle Temple venue of PBI’s 30th Anniversary gala in London resounded with a capacity audience of almost 300 supporters.

The actors Simon Russell Beale, Jack Fortune, Juliet Stevenson, Stephanie Street, Zoë Wanamaker and Sam West, and the musicians Helen Chadwick, Joanna Foster, Barbara Gellhorn and Osnat Schmool, gave up an evening from their busy schedules to perform for free in support of PBI and the threatened human rights defenders we protect. They gave a performance that surpassed all our hopes and expectations.

>> Read more on the PBI UK website

Peace Brigades International (PBI) wins the 2011 Jaime Brunet Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:17:00 +0000

eace Brigades International has just won the 2011 Jaime Brunet Prize for its "commendable work" providing support and international protection to human rights defenders, "where they are subjected to attacks or serious threats and their situation is most critical and vulnerable."

The jury for the Jaime Brunet Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights has decided to award the 2011 prize to the NGO Peace Brigades International (Peace Brigades International PBI) for their "commendable work" of support and international protection of human rights defenders human rights, "where they are subjected to attacks or serious threats and their situation is most critical and vulnerable."

The non-governmental organization with headquarters in London (UK) and offices in 14 countries, was presented by its Navarra delegation and endorsed by numerous institutions and individual human rights defenders, mostly from Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. The prize is worth 36,000 euros.

The name of the winner was published this Friday (9th December), the day before Human Rights Day. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the Public University of Navarra.

The jury highlighted the work of volunteers from Peace Brigades International who, after a process of selection and training, "act as observers and guests in conflict areas to deter threats to human rights defenders, thus contributing not only to the protection of human rights, but also to a much more open and diverse society."

The jury recognized "the effort and commitment" made by volunteers from Peace Brigades International to protect threatened individuals and organizations, "accompanying defenders for up to 24 hours a day, advocating at the national and regional level with all parties in all types of conflict, from threatened indigenous villages, to leaders of human rights organizations, to lawyers defending all types of disadvantaged groups."

The jury also assessed the "commendable performance" of Peace Brigades International in awareness-raising and sharing information on the field, and the promotion and creation of open forums to encourage support of human rights defenders. "

The jury is confident that this recognition of Peace Brigades International will "allow them to advance and expand their goals and programs, stimulate the efforts of other organizations in a bid to get a much fairer society, always respectful fundamental rights of human beings. "

JAIME BRUNET FOUNDATION

Jaime Brunet Foundation is a private cultural foundation, whose aims are to promote respect for human dignity, fundamental freedoms and human rights and the eradication of inhuman or degrading treatment. The Foundation promotes activities and studies with these aims.

Video: Uwa indigenous people opt for a future without oil

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:06:00 +0000

Defending their land is the priority of the Uwa people. Their ancestral territory covers approximately 14.000 square kilometers - an area half the size of Belgium.

Today however, they possess only 14% of these lands. Currently there are two projects under development in the region that would affect the indigenous reserve. One of these is the Niscota Block, an oil extraction project extending more than 600 square kilometers and plans are also underway to construct a pipeline.

For the Uwa people, the fact that their territory contains rich oil deposits has been harmful and detrimental...

>> Help us protect human rights defenders this Christmas by making a donation today.

Guardian blog on PBI: An NGO fit for the future

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:16:00 +0000

"By aligning itself with human rights defenders for the long haul, PBI's emphasis is squarely on relationships rather than log frames, harking back to an era in the history of NGOs when solidarity was more important than annual reports."

>> Read the full article on the Guardian website